Autocoding project proposal.

[Chris Gonnerman]

"David Masterson" <dmaster at synopsys.com> wrote in message
news:<uelk6750s.fsf at synopsys.com>...
> >>>>> Timothy Rue writes:
>
> > Language is abstraction, created in order to communicate, but it can
> > never completely communicate reality.  A pictures says a thousand
> > words..... And that ain't language.
>
> Yes it is.  Language exists in order to communicate an abstraction of
> reality from one entity (usually people, but it could also be animals)
> to another.  That abstraction can be as simple as "hunger" to as
> complex as the theory of relativity.  The same is true with pictures
> since they are also an abstraction of reality and are used to
> communicate what something (might have) looked like at some time.
> There are many pictographic languages around.
>
> > This project would move forward faster if people would chose to
> > help.  And the sooner it get more complete the sooner more can be
> > explained by way of example.
>
> We *CANNOT* help if we cannot understand the abstraction of reality
> that this project represents.  You must find the proper language by
> which to communicate that abstraction.
>
> > #! Python
>
> I don't know Python (yet), but I think I get the idea.

Neither does Rue.  The "shebang" line above is not qualified properly
for any OS I am familiar with; as Windows doesn't need the shebang it's
probably not hurting anything (no way I can imagine Rue using anything
but Windows).

You certainly have more chance to learn Python than Rue does, IMO.

> > # PK file array - VIC Dictionary
> > # Setting the standard variables to defaults
>
> For brevity, I'm going to cut out your code and simply comment on it.
>
> > vic = {
>
> * Your case statement doesn't provide any info on what the VIC is
>   supposed to do.  It appears to be merely creating an array.

That's the beginning of a Python dictionary declaration (and assignment
to the variable vic).  The original code didn't get here so I can't comment
much on it.

> > # Test!!!
>
> * Your test is merely a printout of various array items -- again, no
>   info on what the VIC is supposed to do.
>
> > /*Reading in the PK file.
>
> * Okay, I assume you get some information from the PK file, but I see
>   nothing to tell me what it's supposed to contain.

Urr.  That looks like a C/C++ comment, not a Python comment.

> >     current_line = READLN('PK_file')
> >     PARSE VAR current_line vic.1 ':' vic.1.1 ';' vic.1.2 ';' vic.1.3
>
> * Whoops, there is some reading going on here and a basic format
>   (lines of "something" with 4 fields separated by ":" and ";").

Those two lines look like REXX, not Python.

> > /* Writing the PK file */
>
> * Writing?  We haven't done anything with what we read in yet?

That's not the right format for a comment in Python either.

> > CLOSE('PK-file-out')
>
> * What was achieved in this program?  Did you merely rearrange the
>   data in the PK file?  If so, why?

That CLOSE function has me floored.  I can't make out any language
that does exactly that.

To be fair (I don't have to) Rue has admitted he can't program; he
also can't write.  I'm not talking about spelling, or grammar; Rue
can't express an idea so that another ordinary human being can
understand it.

We really are wasting time and bandwidth here on an imaginary project
which he expects us to do for him.